Raphael's Assassin
by Ciya
Summary: AU tag to "The French Mistake".  Virgil followed Balthazar and the Winchester brothers into the Alt 'verse.
1. Chapter 1

_AU tag to "The French Mistake". Based on the promos for the episode._

**Raphael's Assassin**

A cold, overcast sky and the lack of crewmembers running around gave the KM Motion Picture Studios an eerie and desolate air. "The spell didn't work," Sam said following his brother down one of the many narrow, brick lined 'alleys' on the studio's back lot. "What are we going to do now Dean?"

"I don't know Sam. It should've worked," Dean replied, frustration staining his voice, "we duplicated Balthazar's spell exactly." The spell had spectacularly fizzled, they hadn't seen hide nor hair of Balthazar since he sent them crashing into this crazy alternate reality, which he didn't get at all, and Sam - Jared - was married to _Ruby_…of all people. What's next? Bella's my -Jensen's- girlfriend?

"Except for the angel aspect of it. Maybe we…" his statement was cut off with a muffled yelp.

Dean turned around with a quizzical look on his face to find Sam with Virgil's beefy hand over his mouth and his head yanked back tightly against the angel's shoulder. The look on Dean's face quickly turned to anger as he watched Virgil press the point of his angelic sword into his brother's exposed throat. Sam's knuckles turned white as he struggled to free himself from the angel's unyielding grip.

"Where's Balthazar?" Raphael's assassin demanded.

Dean growled, "let him go!" his hands clenching into fists as he took a menacing step towards the angel.

Virgil pulled Sam's head back further, the point of his sword pricking the younger man's neck allowing a drop of blood to run down and discolor the collar of his shirt. "If you don't tell me where Balthazar is I will slice his throat open from ear to ear." Dean could see the fear in Sam's eyes and heard the pained grunt as his neck and back were pulled back against the angel's dark shoulder at an even more awkward angle.

"We don't know where he is. We don't even know where **we** are," Dean gestured around wildly.

The drop of blood turned into a trickle as Virgil moved the sword point slowly along his hostage's throat. "Where is he!" Sam stared at sky, tears of pain collected in his eyes as he tried to breathe as shallowly as possible.

"We don't know!" Dean reiterated.

"Your brother," Virgil cocked his head slightly at Sam, "will die if you don't tell me where the traitor is."

"I. Don't. Know!"

The blade was suddenly dropped from Sam's throat and thrust into his right side. "WHERE IS HE!" The angel's hand stifling Sam's surprised gasp.

Dean desperately yelled, "I DON'T KNOW!" Sam choked and his body shuddered uncontrollably as the sword was shoved to the hilt into his side, the point just breaking the skin of his lower back.

"**WHERE IS**.."

"Behind you," a French tinged English accented voice quietly stated.

The feeling of cold steel invading his body assaulted his senses and churned his stomach. The numbing cold was replaced with agonizing fire when the blade was yanked out. His knees buckled and Sam barely heard Dean's yell as he landed in a heap on the cold, wet ground. Pain engulfed his side, coloring everything a deep dark red. "SAM!" Dean rushed to his sibling's side, kneeling down he rolled Sam onto his back and pressed his hands down on the wound muttering, "it's okay Sam, you're okay," as blood quickly pooled under his kid brother.

"Stop Dean…please…hurts…please stop," he cried, his body tensing at the pressure. Sam kicked his legs and grabbed a handful of Dean's jacket, twisting it as his brother tried to staunch the flow of blood.

"Sammy you know I have to do this," explained Dean, pulling off his blue shirt jacket and rolling it up into a ball, he pressed it down hard against the wound. Sam screamed and arched his back, gasping for air. '_God I can't lose him now, I just got him back,_' ran through Dean's head as blinding flash of light lit up the alleyway.

"Get him up, we have to get moving," Balthazar ordered as he rifled through Virgil's clothing.

"He'll bleed out if I move him," the eldest Winchester brother growled back, "just beam us there damnit."

"I'll say this slowly so it'll sink in, you hairless ape," the rogue angel pulled Dean up by the collar and looked him in the eye, "we can only go back from our point of arrival. I barely have enough power as it is to accomplish this feat, so if I 'beam us there' as you say, I won't have enough left to get _all_ of us home," he stared pointedly at Sam over Dean's shoulder then back at the older brother, raising his eyebrows.

"Well how about healing him?" Balthazar glared at Dean, letting him go with a slight shove. "Okay fine, what about partially healing him then? Just enough so he doesn't bleed to death on the trip back."

Barely able to see Balthazar bending over him, Sam groaned through clenched teeth as the angel pressed down on his wound. An unpleasant feeling of a thousand ants crawling over and under his skin shot through him, followed by a warmth that did nothing to stop his shivering. Hazel eyes were barely visible when Dean pulled him to his feet, a pained grunt sounded as his arm was thrown over his brother's strong shoulders and he was forced to walk.

"Sam don't drag you feet, you're to big and heavy to be dragged. The sooner we get back home the sooner you can get the good stuff."

The blonde angel huffed at the brother's slowness, Dean growled back and Sam watched his feet, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other. Time passed and before he knew it Dean was leaning him against a doorway, telling him to stay vertical. Glancing up through sweat soaked bangs, Sam looked around the studio's version of Bobby's living room. "We there yet?" he asked tiredly.

Dean laughed, "not quite yet kiddo." He pushed the old davenport out from in front of the picture window, giving them space to run while Balthazar mixed up the ingredients for the spell, "just stay awake for a little while longer okay?"

"Okay," Sam answered, sounding all of five years old. He leaned back and stared up at the non-existent ceiling, wrapping his arms around his aching middle.

"Lets go Sam." So focused on counting the overhead lighting rigs, Sam startled and almost passed out from the sudden increase of pain in his side. "Whoa dude!" Dean exclaimed, catching his brother before he could take a nose dive. "Didn't mean to scare you."

"D'n," he turned a pale, sweaty face towards his brother, "don' feel s'good."

"I know Sam, but I need you to do one more thing for me and then we'll get you hooked up to the good stuff, all right?" Sam nodded. "Finished Balthazar?" he asked looking over where the angel had been painting the final component of the spell on the window. "Okay, I need you to take Sam's other arm…don't look at me like that, your buddy did this to him."

"Virgil was _not_ my buddy," he replied, frost practically dripping off his words. If looks could kill both Dean and Balthazar would be cooling corpses on the floor, as it was, they glared at each other until the angel deigned to pull Sam's dangling arm over his shoulder.

"Sam…Sammy," when he was sure he had the younger man's attention Dean pointed at the window, "when I say 'jump' jump okay?"

"Yeah," was the soft reply.

The two men pulled the injured man into position a few feet from the window. "All right here we go. One, two, three…JUMP!"


	2. Epilogue

_Took me awhile but I finally got the epilogue done. _\0/ _It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be to explain why Bobby 'didn't notice or comment on', as some SN fans have put it, the difference in Sam after he came back from Lucifer's Cage._

**Raphael's Assassin**

_**-Epilogue-**_

Waiting while the boys received medical treatment was becoming a hobby Bobby Singer didn't relish. Yawning and shifting, he wondered again if the sadistic bastard in the Avera McKennan Hospital's purchasing department won an award for finding the most uncomfortable, butt numbing chairs in the five state area. He watched as Dean's blanket covered chest gently rose and fell, grateful that the nurses had been smart enough to knock the kid out after reducing his dislocated shoulder and putting a cast on his broken forearm, which luckily for Dean, were on the same side of his body. With Dean unconscious it made it slightly easier to wait quietly for word on Sam. The trauma surgeon hadn't been sure of the kid's chances of survival but then he didn't know the Winchesters.

Memories of the last few hours invaded his thoughts; if he hadn't arrived home in time to witness the boys' arrival he would've had his well water tested or at least forced Dean to quit drinking cold turkey, probably both if he was being truthful with himself, after hearing the boy's fantastical tale. Alternate universes? Even for him that was just so _sci-fi._ He shook his head, yet there it was; one moment he's staring at the mess caused by rain blowing through his broken picture window while frantically yelling for the boys and the next, three figures appear on the outside of the destroyed window as if they had flown _through_ it.

Shaking off his momentary shock the grizzled hunter grabbed a sawed-off shotgun, shoved the ruined davenport out of the way and climbed gingerly through the open window casing. A blonde haired man picked himself up off the debris strewn grass; wiped wet leaves, twigs and pieces of glass off his jacket with disgust then disappeared with the sound of flapping wings. "Another freakin' angel. Lovely."

Bobby hustled over to the closest sprawled body. "Sam," he said quietly, the gruff man gently touched the younger one's back and head, "Sam?" he said louder as he wiped wet brown bangs off the youngest Winchester's face, "Sam can you hear me?" he shook him slightly, "Sam?" Checking the kid's pulse he heard a groan off to his left. "Hold on kid, I hear your brother." Bobby placed his hand on the brown haired head once more, trying to offer a small amount of comfort to the unconscious man, before going to Dean.

"Dean?" he asked kneeling down next to the oldest Winchester, putting a hand on his shoulder. Dean hissed and rolled from his side to his back. Checking him over Bobby noticed the shoulder under his hand felt and looked odd. "Son you need to lie still, I think you dislocated your shoulder."

Dean rolled his head back and forth, "S'm?"

"He's here son, just let me finish…" Bobby let the sentence trail off when he caught sight of a shard of glass sticking out of Dean's left upper thigh. "Dean I…" he caught the younger man's rolling head in his hands, "Dean," green eyes cracked open slightly, blinking slowly as rain drops hit them, "Dean I'm going to check on Sam before I go inside for supplies. Promise me you won't move from this spot."

"S'my?"

"Sam's fine Dean, he's just…he's just taking a nap right now. Promise me you won't move." Dean grunted and nodded. "I'm holding you to that boy." Bobby checked Sam's pulse and breathing once more then hurried into his house through the conveniently destroyed picture window. Snatching a cell phone off the desk he dialed 911 as he hurried to bathroom to get the first aide kit, not completely trusting Dean not to check on his brother.

"_I don't know what happened to my nephews…yes 'those' nephews,"_ Bobby rolled his eyes,_ "I found them lying unconscious outside and the window was broken. Yes they're both breathing, or a least they were when I ran in to call you guys. I don't know if anything was stolen, I didn't look. Lynae…LYNAE! Just send the EMTs okay!" _he snapped the cell phone shut, "damn that woman, she gets more exasperating every time." Kneeling once again, Bobby wrapped a thick blanket around a struggling to sit up Winchester before pushing him back down. "What did I tell you boy?"

"Sam, he's hurt," countered Dean, sounding more alert than he had earlier.

"He's unconscious son." Bobby got to work packing gauze around the glass shard, immobilizing it the best he could.

"He's been stabbed Bobby!" Dean shouted as Bobby reached for his shoulder, intent on immobilizing it too. He batted his friend's hands away from his throbbing shoulder, "that god-damned angel stabbed him!" The older hunter stared at Dean for a second before going over to Sam and running his hands along his back and sides. "Balthazar partially healed him but he..he was going into shock when we left." Bobby rolled the kid over as gently as possible and searched again, at last finding a bloody tear in his shirts.

"What was he stabbed with Dean?"

"An angel sword."

"Son of a bitch!" Bobby swore loud and vehemently, knowing what a blade that length could do to a man's insides. Buttons flew as he yanked Sam's overshirt open, he then pulled out his Leatherman and slit Sam's t-shirt apart. He started swearing again after he got his first good look at the bloody, torn skin surrounded by a large bruise. "Evidently angel healing doesn't last through rough landings." The hunter unfolded another blanket, laying it over the younger man's shivering body then set to gathering squares of gauze. As he worked to control the kid's blood loss he hoped shock and internal bleeding wouldn't kill him before the ambulance could arrive. "Dean what happened here? It looked like you guys were flung out of a Stargate," he asked, aiming a glare at the young man who was struggling to sit up again, "lay down Dean," he ordered.

After raising his eyebrows in surprise over the Stargate reference, Dean laid back down with a groan and told Bobby everything. Balthazar's spell - Jared, Jensen and the TV show - the helicopter and aquarium in 'his' trailer - Sammy's 'wife' and the alpaca _(the greenest of animals) -_ their failed attempt to get back home - Virgil's appearance, the stabbing and lastly, jumping back through the window. By the time he'd finished Dean's face was pinched with pain and exhaustion. And at long last, there were multi-coloured flashing lights coming through the entrance to the salvage yard.

"Mister Singer?" Bobby blinked at the bright light when a hand gently shook his shoulder. "Mister Singer wake up."

"Uh..wa?" Articulation was for squirrels and flying rats.

"Mister Singer?"

"Yeah, I'm awake," he replied, rubbing his hands over his face.

The nurse nodded knowingly and smiled, "I'm sorry to disturb you sir but your nephew is out of surgery and…"

The gruff man sat up as quickly as his old bones allowed. "Is Sam alright?"

"His doctor will have that information. Your nephew is in recovery, would you like to see him now?"

"Yes." Standing up stiffly, he glanced over at a drugged to the gills, snoring Dean then gestured at the door, "lead the way MacDuff."

Blood loss, shock, coding on the table, the odd wound track and the surgeon's amazement at how Sam's spinal cord wasn't damaged along with questions about the thick scar on Sam's back and so forth and so on flowed around Bobby. He could only stare down at Sam's pale face and the mass of tubes and wires leading from him to various medical apparatus. The surgeon was cautiously optimistic, but she assured Mr. Singer that with rest and rehab his nephew should make a complete recovery.

Bobby nodded distractedly when the surgeon took her leave, he gave Sam's shoulder a gently squeeze as he sat down in a chair next to the bed. '_Damn allergies_,' he thought, scrubbing the dampness from his tired eyes. "Sam.." he started, changed his mind as to what he was going to say and shook his head instead. He'd known Sam was different the minute the kid showed up on his front porch without a smiling Dean in tow and instead of immediately reaching for the phone to call his brother or demanding a vehicle, he declared he didn't want Dean to know he was back. There'd been something in his attitude, the way he held himself as he sat at Bobby's kitchen table drinking beer, insisting his brother was better off living a normal, non-hunting life. Even after Bobby'd made it clear that Dean wasn't handling his 'death' very well and demanded Sam at the least put the man out of his misery by calling him; the youngest Winchester remained adamant, Lisa and Ben would be there for his brother and Dean was better off not knowing he was topside. Then with a steeliness in his voice that Bobby hadn't heard before, he stated categorically that if Bobby didn't lay off he would disappear and they both knew the older hunter wouldn't be able to find him. Just as he was about to say that Dean could, Sam gave him a look that chilled him to the bone and he let the words die without being spoken.

In the end, God help him, he'd agreed. He was so damn glad to see the kid alive that, for the time being at least, he let Sam have his way. And truthfully, he expected anyone who'd survived being possessed by Lucifer and spent time in the Cage with two pissed off Archangels with nothing to do but use you for batting practice, to be a bit off in the first place. So he'd stuffed the niggling, creeping cold finger of 'something is massively wrong with Sam' into a box, that would later, after everything had gone to hell and hit the fan, would crack open as easily as an egg and kick him in the jewels.

Adjusting his numb posterior and casting his eye around for a pillow or extra blanket to cushion the hard seat he thought back to when he'd told Sam he didn't blame him for trying to kill him. The boy saw right through that half lie and stared straight at Bobby's fear of him. In his expressive hazel eyes the older man could see how Sam desperately needed to apologize for his actions and redeem himself. How he needed to repair his and Dean's relationship and fix everything he'd shattered when he was soulless. Bobby knew not remembering what he'd done this past year was slowly killing Sam yet he agreed with Dean, if the younger boy knew half of what he'd done - what they could piece together while Sam was hunting alone and with Samuel - it could punch a hole right through the Great Hell Wall of Sam.

The older man rubbed his face and sighed, it wasn't something he was looking forward to but he acknowledged the need for them to put this last year behind them. And if Sam needed him to open up and talk then he was going to do just that…after a couple shots of the good stuff. Heaven, Hell and the Mother of All would just have to wait until their heads and hearts where back in the game.

_**FIN**_


End file.
